It has only been acknowledged outside of China in the last 250 years. ĭespite its long success in China, the longan is considered to be a relatively new fruit to the world. This jump-started the longan industry in these locations. The warm, sandy-soiled conditions allowed for the easy growth of longan trees. Later on, due to immigration and the growing demand for nostalgic foods, the longan tree was officially introduced to Australia in the mid-1800s, Thailand in the late-1800s, and Hawaii and Florida in the 1900s. Four hundred years later, longan trees flourished in other parts of China like Fujian and Guangdong, where longan production soon became an industry. The emperor had demanded lychee and longan trees to be planted in his palace gardens in Shaanxi, but the plants failed.
Its earliest record of existence draws back to the Han dynasty in 200 BC. Other reported origins include India, Sri Lanka, upper Myanmar, north Thailand, Kampuchea (more commonly known as Cambodia), north Vietnam and New Guinea. The longan is believed to originate from the mountain range between Myanmar and southern China. Recent field data are inadequate for a contemporary IUCN assessment. If left alone, longan tree stumps will resprout and the listing was upgraded to Near Threatened in 1998. The wild longan population have been decimated considerably by large-scale logging in the past, and the species used to be listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Longans usually bear fruit slightly later than lychees. Longan trees prefer sandy soil with mild levels of acidity and organic matter. While the species prefers temperatures that do not typically fall below 4.5 ☌ (40 ☏), it can withstand brief temperature drops to about −2 ☌ (28 ☏). The longan tree is somewhat sensitive to frost. The flesh has a musky, sweet taste, which can be compared to the flavor of lychee fruit. The flesh is translucent, and the seed is large and black with a circular white spot at the base. The peel is tan, thin, and leathery with tiny hairs. The fruit hangs in drooping clusters that are circular and about 1 in (2.5 cm) wide. There are three flower types, distributed throughout the panicle staminate (functionally male), pistillate (functionally female), and hermaphroditic flowers. The flower has a two-lobed pistil and 8 stamen. The small flowers have 5 to 6 sepals and petals that are brownish-yellow. The inflorescence is commonly called a panicle and are 4–18 in (10–46 cm) long, and widely branched. The longan tree produces light-yellow inflorescences at the end of branches. There are 6 to 9 pairs of leaflets per leaf and the upper surface is wavy and a dark, glossy-green. The leaves are pinnately compounded and alternate.
The leaves are oblong and blunt-tipped, usually 4–8 inches (10–20 cm) long and 2 in (5 cm) wide. The branches are long and thick, typically drooping. The trunk is 2.5 ft (0.8 m) thick with corky bark. Longan fruit with flesh, seed, and peel visible.ĭepending upon climate and soil type the tree may grow to over 100 feet (30 m) in height, but it typically stands 30–40 ft (9–12 m) in height and the crown is round. echinatus Leenhouts (Borneo, Philippines) The tenderness of the shell varies due to either premature harvest, variety, weather conditions or storage conditions. When the shell has more moisture content and is more tender, the fruit becomes less convenient to shell. The fully ripened, freshly harvested fruit has a bark-like shell, thin, and firm, making the fruit easy to peel by squeezing the pulp out as if one were "cracking" a sunflower seed. The seed is small, round and hard, and of an enamel-like, lacquered black. The longan (from Cantonese lùhng-ngáahn 龍眼, literally 'dragon eye'), is so named because it resembles an eyeball when its fruit is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil and iris). The fruit of the longan is similar to that of the lychee, but less aromatic in taste.
It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambutan also belong. "Longan" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese charactersĭimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan ( / ˈ l ɒ ŋ ɡ ə n/) and dragon's eye, is a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit.
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